Tag Archives: education

Life Choices

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Hello, Friday, I’ve missed you!

Oddly, I thought it was May 17th, instead of April 17th. I must be mentally wishing this semester to be over with already and so I can start enjoying this gorgeous weather and outdoor activities with mini me. She’s only a child once and I’m missing out on taking her to the park in the afternoon, or playing with sidewalk chalk and bubbles, all because I’m constantly stuck indoors, on the computer, working on homework every day.

There’s been a couple of times where I’ve skipped doing homework, just so I can play with my daughter; though I got a little behind, I feel it was worth putting it off. I don’t want my daughter growing up feeling that I never spent time with her and constantly pushed her aside in order to keep my nose stuck in the books or to constantly cit in front of the computer, typing up essay after essay.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy going to class, I just wish to be done with it already and be out there doing what I’ve been going to school for. Three more semesters to go… Graduation date, Dec 2016!

Today’s Daily Prompt asked,

What’s the one piece of advice you wish someone had given you a year (or five, or ten…) ago?

I wish that someone had pointed out to me, that going to college for Aviation maintenance was a bad choice. I had problems while I was in school just from being a female. The constant sexual harassment I had to deal with from the male student population and also from a couple of instructors. I tried to turn them in, but the dean didn’t wish to hear it; I was a minority, there were five females in the entire school, versus a 98% male student population. Plus, there weren’t any female teachers. The owner of the college began firing most of his female office staff. His goal, to make the college an ‘all male’ school. That just made it more uncomfortable being there. Alas, I cut my education short and graduated early, though I did manage to get my Associates Degree in Aviation Airframe.

Then, the recession hit and not only did I have trouble finding a job because I lacked experience, but I couldn’t find a job because the aviation business declined immensely and no one was hiring. I had to work for free to get my experience and didn’t enjoy it. The guy I worked for complained majority of the time about having to work and fussed at me constantly about the need for perfection. I finally quit working for him and started working somewhere that paid; I had a student loan to pay off and was falling into debt.

I fell out of love with aviation, it was more of a childhood dream and all those around me crushed that dream. I didn’t want to be around airplanes anymore.

Six years later, I decided to go back to school, but for something else, something that I will have no problems finding a job doing. There’s a huge market for anthropology, as there are many fields and sub-fields.

I continue to volunteer my time doing many different things as an anthropologist. I don’t even have my degree…yet and I’m enjoying myself. My current favorite, volunteering at the zoo with the large primates.

There will always be a list of shoulda, coulda, wouldas, so change that by finding something you enjoy doing. Live out your dreams. Follow through with your goals. Be happy with your choices.

Happy Friday, everyone!

National Library Week – Blogging From A to Z Challenge

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This week is National Library Week. This is the time to take the opportunity to thank your local librarian or to have your community become involved in your local library. I grew up two doors down from a library, so I’ve spent many, many days curled up in a corner of the library, with my nose in a book, capturing an imaginative moment with each page I turned. My librarian, Mrs. Zoch, who has since passed away, would help me find the perfect book to captivate my attention. I’m deeply thankful to her in helping me get to where I am today. Because of her, I found a love for books. And because of that, I have become a published author for children. I find the use of imagination helpful in creative thinking.

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Literacy is an important tool in a person’s life. It helps in our advancement in the workplace. It helps us obtain the right jobs for us. As a blooming anthropologist, I’ll be spending many hours in a library, amongst the research materials, trying to uncover the mystery behind whatever group of people I’ll be writing about. Libraries play a crucial role in my job. For years I’ve been working on my genealogy and have noticed that everything isn’t found on the internet. I spent an entire day on vacation, researching my genealogy at a library in Georgia. They have a room that is specifically for ancestry.

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I stared into the library from the doorway and was captivated by the numerous shelves full of records, books, journals, newspapers, and other items, as well as several shelves full of film. None of these items would be found on the internet. After several roles of film, then thumbing through a few records, I found some important documents on a couple of my grandparents. I had searched for years on the internet for these documents, only to find them from taking a trip to Georgia from Arkansas. I actually went to Georgia to visit with my sister and some cousins of ours, but once I learned about the library in Macon, Georgia, I had to make a trip.

Be done already

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I guess I’m not quite happy with my novel as is…I simply can’t leave it alone. It’s as if it calls to me from another room and says, ‘you’re not really done with me yet.’ So I pick my manuscript up, look over the pages, and scratch sentences, words, or paragraphs over to the side, drawing arrows, pointing where I want them to go. Every day, I keep going back and adding more and more. I also edit as I go.

Don’t get me wrong, I like that I’m adding more, but how do you know when you’re official finished? I’ve completed my manuscript, or so I thought I did; twenty chapters, over 34K words. The storyline is complete; I just keep adding to the dialog, or more to the descriptions of here and there, or how the person said this or that. I’ve been told that sometimes it’s okay to have detail, and sometimes detail can be too much, and sometimes there’s just not enough detail.

With the English class that I took last semester, I know that my writing as progressed. Honestly if you’ve read my earlier work, you would notice a huge difference as well. Being a military brat is not easy. One thing a parent in the military does not realize is how moving affects a child’s education. I’ve been to twelve different schools before I graduated and was always behind. My mother thought it best to put me in special education classes, which didn’t help me out at all. In fact, it made matters worse. So, some of the college classes that I have taken have really helped me.

I dug out my notes for book two; yes there is a sequel to my novel. I was curious to see where it was going, as it had been a few years since I had last looked at it. I was also curious how much of the story I have written so far. With only four chapters I have a little over 10K words. Not bad really, though I plan to cut and add to those four chapters before I can continue on with chapter five and so on.

I glance at the calendar and see that I have a week and a half left until I start back to school. If I’m not swamped with homework maybe I can get a little writing done here and there.